This invention relates to optical illusion devices that make use of distorted construction to create a false perspective so that a misshapen object will appear to be of normal shape.
To the best knowledge of this applicant, the closest related device was invented about thirty-five years ago Adelbert Ames, Jr. at the Dartmouth Eye Institute. Ames built distorted rooms that appeared symmetrical when seen from a properly placed peephole. A one time associate of Ames, Professor William Ittelson, built an Ames type of room at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York for use in studying the psychology of visual perception. Ittelson also wrote a book titled "The Ames Demonstrations in Perception, A Guide to Their Construction and Use"; published by the Princeton University Press in 1952. This book contains plans for a variety of the Ames type of room and was the main guide used in the construction of the Distorted Room of San Francisco's Exploratorium. This model of the Ames room is currently a popular exhibit at the Exploratorium and to the best knowledge of this applicant represents the present state of the art for this type of device. Unlike the three section design of this invention, the Ames type of room is nonrectangular from one side to the other. The back wall, floor and ceiling are slanted and taper from the larger wall on one side to the smaller wall on the other side. When seen through the peephole, the room appears to be rectangular because each point of reference in the room lies along the line of sight leading from the peephole to the position the point would occupy in a rectangular room. A person walking across the slanted floor from the larger to the smaller side appears to grow in size. A person on one side of the chamber appears larger than a person of the same size on the other side of the chamber. Only the nonrectangular center section of the three section stage of this invention is related in any way to Ames type of construction design.